There is growing anxiety among Heads of Senior High Schools across the country over financial challenges due to delays in releasing funds for students under the Free Senior High School policy.
The situation has afflicted hardship on management of most public SHSs who are improvising with monies for the second year students to run the schools and take care of other students.
A letter intercepted by Starr News revealed that the Ministry of Education on September 19, 2018 requested the Bank of Ghana to transfer an amount of sixty-two million, five hundred and eight thousand, seven hundred and ninety-eight cedis (Ghc62, 508, 789. 00) to all 655 Public Senior High Schools in respect of only Second Year Students for the implementation of the Free SHS Program of the 1st Semester of 2018/19 academic year
The letter stated that “the list of Schools does not include thirteen (13) Schools who were overpaid in the 2017/2018 academic year.”
It added that “the amount disbursed to each School was based on the new semester fee structure and their validated enrolment figures for day and boarding students.”
Subsequently, the Director General of Ghana Education Service, Prof. Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa wrote another letter to all Regional Directors of the Ghana Education Service to inform them about the situation to “guide the Heads of Institutions to Utilise funds transferred to them in respect of second year students for 1st Semester of the 2018/2019 academic year”.
However, some headmasters of some public senior high schools who spoke to Starr News on condition of anonymity stated that they have had to run the entire school with the same money since that of the other year groups are yet to be released by the Education Ministry.
They complained that the situation is very frustrating and urged the Education Ministry to immediately release funds for other year groups to lessen the burden.
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM/Kojo Ansah
